Basketball is not about running and gunning. It's about execution and defense. You know deep inside the 2012 team could not beat the Dream Team.

Amos Reese Sr.

Mountain Brook

Don't forget Sir Charles

In his recent Hot Corner claiming the 2012 Olympic basketball team would beat the 1992 Dream Team, Jeff Sentell failed to mention the one 1992 player who at the time may have been playing better than Michael Jordan -- Charles Barkley.

It would be a great game to see but in the end I'd take a "shell" of Magic Johnson leading a group of guys who hated to lose over the 2012 team.

Bill Martin,

Panama City Beach, Fla.

The journey matters, too

Regarding David Knox's Hot Corner on the Olympics, just getting to compete is a stupendous achievement. Of course, we reward winning, not the efforts to get there. More stories about that long, hard and ugly road would remind us about the people behind the constructed story.

Charles Egger,

Austin Texas

Bowden deserves statue

Now will someone tell me why a man born in Birmingham, played football at Birmingham's Woodlawn High School, played college football at the University of Alabama and Birmingham's Howard College, coached at Birmingham's Howard College (later named Samford University) and has just become the winningest coach in Division I-A college football history should not have his statue at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame located in Birmingham?

Birmingham should be proud to have Bobby Bowden as a native son.

Obie Evans,

Minor

Jealous writer

It appears that one of last week's Sound Off writers expects The Birmingham News to apologize for publishing an article about Alabama football and Coach Saban on the day after the Penn State sanctions. His envy of both is duly noted.

Al Lamoureux,

Homewood

Best game in town

The best attraction in Birmingham right now is the Birmingham Barons. If you are spending evenings at home, watching television, you are letting summer slip by without having a hot dog, Coke, and seeing the best show in town.

No one really cares if the Barons win or lose. But if you want to watch young pitchers throw the ball 90-plus miles per hour, if you want to see pro baseball players really hustle as if their future depends on it, which it does, if you want to laugh with your children as you watch stupid events such as the mascot race, or if you just want to chat outside on a pleasant evening with friends, get to a Barons game.

It is one of the best assets that Birmingham has. And an evening spent at any ballpark beats any expensive restaurant or chilly movie theater. And what theater has free fireworks after the game? How cool is that! And if your date doesn't agree, maybe you are dating the wrong person.

Philip Theibert,

Birmingham

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